Kamala Markandaya (23 June 1924 – 16 May 2004), pseudonym of Kamala Purnaiya, married name Kamala Taylor, was a

British Indian British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian origin as well as Indians who have migrated to the UK. Today, Indians comprise about 1.4 mil ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

. She has been called "one of the most important Indian novelists writing in English".

Life

Early life

Markandaya was born into an upper-middle-class

Deshastha Madhva Brahmin Deshastha Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and northern area of the state of Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha ...

family. A native of

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude o ...

, India, Markandaya was a graduate of

Madras University The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

, and afterwards published several short stories in Indian newspapers. After India declared its

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

, Markandaya moved to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, though she still labelled herself an Indian

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

long afterwards. Kamala was a descendant of diwan Purnaiya and was fluent in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and Marathi.

Career

She was well-known for writing about

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

clash between Indian urban and rural societies, Markandaya's

first published novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, '' Nectar in a Sieve'' (1954), was a bestseller and cited as an

American Library Association Notable Book American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists, part of the larger ALA awards structure. * ''ALA Notable Books for Adults'' (est ...

in 1955. Her other novels include ''Some Inner Fury'' (1955), ''A Silence of Desire'' (1960), '' Possession'' (1963), ''A Handful of Rice'' (1966), ''The Coffer Dams'' (1969), '' The Nowhere Man'' (1972), ''Two Virgins'' (1973), ''The Golden Honeycomb'' (1977), and ''Pleasure City'' (1982). Her last novel, ''Bombay Tiger'', was published posthumously (2008) by her daughter Kim Oliver.

Death

Kamala Markandaya died aged 79 on 16 May 2004.

Works

* '' Nectar in a Sieve'', London: Putnam, New York: John Day, 1954 * ''Some Inner Fury'', London: Putnam, 1955, New York: John Day, 1956 * ''A Silence of Desire'', London: Putnam, New York: John Day, 1960 * '' Possession; a novel'', London: Putnam, New York: John Day, 1963 * ''A Handful of Rice'', London: Hamish Hamilton, New York: John Day, 1966 * ''The Coffer Dams'', London: Hamilton, New York: John Day, 1969 * '' The Nowhere Man'', New York: John Day, 1972, London: Allen Lane, 1973 * ''Two Virgins'', New York: John Day, 1973, London: Chatto & Windus, 1974 * ''The Golden Honeycomb'', London: Chatto & Windus, New York: Crowell, 1977 * ''Pleasure City'', London: Chatto & Windus, 1982. Published in the United States under the title ''Shalimar'', New York: Harper & Row, 1982 * ''Bombay Tiger'', New Delhi: Penguin, 2008 (Posthumously published)

Literary criticism

* Almeida, Rochelle. ''Originality and Imitation: Indianness in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya''. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2000. * Aror, Sudhir K. ''Multicultural Consciousness in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya''. Authors press, 2011. * Jha, Rekha. ''The Novels of Kamala Markandaya and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Study in East-West Encounter''. New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1990. * Joseph, Margaret P. ''Kamala Markandaya'', Indian Writers Series, N. Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980. * Krishna Rao, A. V. ''The Indo-Anglian Novel and Changing Tradition: A Study of the Novels of Mulk Raj Anad, Kamala Markandaya, R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao, 1930–64''. Mysore: 1972. * Parameswaran, Uma. ''Kamala Markandaya''. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2000. * Shrivastava, Manish. "Conflicts of Sensibility in Kamala Markandaya's ''A Silence of Desire''". ''Synthesis: Indian Journal of English Literature and Language''. vol.1, no.1. * Singh, Indu. "The Feminist Approach in Kamala Markandaya's Novels with Special Reference to ''Nectar in a Sieve''", ''Synthesis: Indian Journal of English Literature and Language'', vol. 1, no. 1.

References

External links

Kamala Markandaya biography
* Francis C. Assisi
"A Pioneer Who Influenced All Of Us..."
''Outlook'', 25 May 2004. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Markandaya, Kamala 1924 births 2004 deaths Journalists from Karnataka Writers from Mysore Women writers from Karnataka British people of Indian descent English-language writers from India Indian women journalists 20th-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian journalists Novelists from Karnataka 21st-century Indian women writers